1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to nozzles for use with vacuum cleaners and, more specifically, to a powered nozzle advantageously applied to bare floors, carpets and the like by the use of a wand like handle normally present on the hose end of a canister cleaner.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although counter-balance springs are broadly old in the cleaner art, the showings of such consisting of tension, compression and torsion springs arranged in a variety of ways, it appears that the use of a torsion spring disposed so that its actual reaction points are against the bottom of a cleaner handle or member serving this purpose and the bottom side of a nozzle to thereby prevent lifting of the rear of the nozzle during cleaning has not heretofore been contemplated. More specifically, the use of such a spring arrangement in an independent, remote, free standing nozzle appears to be devoid in the prior art. At the same time, the use of a torsion spring so arranged provides very effective control of nozzle lift during rearward movement of the nozzle during cleaning and also permits ease in manufacturing because of the simplified mounting necessary.
The use of a resiliently mounted and height adjustable brush in such a nozzle is also old in the prior art and does advantageously permit flexibility in the cleaning surfaces for which the nozzle is effective. However, previous mounting arrangements for brushes of this sort are generally fairly costly in that they use specially shaped parts requiring special molds, complex stampings or the like or are not as direct acting or as flexible in positioning or as readily accessible to the user as the instant height adjustable brush arragement. Further, ease in coupling of the adjustable brush arrangement to an indicator means easily seen by the user is desirable.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a torsion spring counterbalance arrangement for a nozzle in which the reaction points of the torsion spring are between the bottom of the handle and the bottom of the nozzle so as to counterbalance the nozzle and prevent lifting of the same during backstroke movement of the nozzle as cleaning occurs.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a simplified resilient, height adjustable brush for a nozzle in which the mounting and adjusting structure lends itself easily to accessibility for operator manipulation and permits easy attachment to a view-accessible indicator arrangement.
It is a still further object of the invention to combine the anti-lift feature provided by the described torsion spring and the resiliently mounted height adjustable brush in a single nozzle so as to obtain an improved easily operated nozzle readily adaptable to perform the remote cleaning function so common in today's canister cleaners.